Healing the sick, sinful, and guilty

I am currently reading through the Bible this year (as probably a lot of you out there are doing too) and it is seriously crazy good. Something I have been trying to do is see Jesus in everything I read...Old Testament and all. Let's just say, He's everywhere. Literally. 

So while reading in Genesis this past week I read that Isaac was old and thought he was dying so he asked his eldest son, Esau, to go out, hunt some game and cook his favorite meal before he died and then he would bless Esau. Rebekah overheard her husband saying all these things and told her son Jacob to go out to the flock, get a goat, and she would cook it for Isaac so that Jacob would receive the blessing and not Esau. They put together this elaborate scheme to deceive Isaac which included putting on fur on his hands so he would be mistaken as being hairy like his brother Esau. The plan worked. Isaac blessed Jacob saying he would be very great. People would serve him, and nations bow down to him. He would be lord over his brothers. He even went so far as to say "cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!"

It doesn't take a genius to guess what happened next....Esau came back from hunting and cooked his father a delicious meal. He went into where his father was and expected to get a blessing in return. Which would've been great....except that Isaac had just blessed Jacob. Bummer Esau...

Ok, I have heard this story so many times growing up...I guess I was just caught up in the fur or something but it has never hit me like this before. I was trying to put myself into Jacob's shoes. The guilt I would feel during the deception and after it would have been so great. But God knew what was going on!! And it fact, it was in His plan all along for that to happen. He knew that JESUS was in the lineage of JACOB, not Esau. I need to remember that His plan will NOT be thwarted. Not even when we sin and deceive...or even have guilt about what we did. He is BIGGER than our sin, BIGGER than our deception, BIGGER that our guilt! 

This story is such a beautiful picture of grace and salvation. Sometimes all we can think about is doing what our sinfulness is screaming out for us to do. God still works through it. Always. However, this doesn't mean we should continue in our sinful ways (Romans 6:1)..it simply means that He SAVES the SINNERS! He came to HEAL the SICK! 

As a last side note, I wanted to point out that in Isaac's blessing he told Jacob nations would bow down to him. Now I'm no expert commentator, but I can't help but remember the verse in Romans 14:11 that says from every tribe and nation every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is LORD. The blessing is a foreshadow of Jesus to come in his line! Now that's providence people...